Google Reader to be Killed
As of July 01, 2013 Google Reader will be no more. This is some of the saddest news I have ever read on the internet. Based on this Reddit thread, I am not alone in disappointment.
Look at these stats:
Damn impressive.
Or, on second thought, pretty misleading. Since the items I’ve clicked is a better representation of what I cared about. But even that is not so true. Since I always click on Buttersafe, since only thumbnails appear in that feed. But then most other items I’ve clicked on I wanted to share with someone. And instead of using the share buttons on the bottom of each post, I just copy the link and IM it to whoever I want. Or copy the link to then post here. Still, I usually do read a fair amount of them, probably 40% total I read, the rest I skip over. Since I follow a tech blog, a gaming blog, and a few DIY blogs, there’s plenty of cross over, especially around events – live blogs, E3, and so on.
Anyway, I digress.
WHAT. THE. FUCK. GOOGLE.?
(yes, that’s a period & a question mark, deal with it.)
One of the reasons Google cite’s for the death is declining usage. I can understand that, but somehow, I think that the total number of Google Reader users is 5 or 6, or even 10x more than many other popular services on the internet.
For the past 8 years Google reader has been the only site I go to every single day. It has been the only place I get my regular news. It has been my go to place for all the things I’m interested in.
Sure Stumbleupon took up a good amount of my time, and recently Reddit has taken SU’s crown, but I still get all my main news from Reader. In fact, I often don’t consider news official until I see it in my feeds.
I honestly don’t know what to do about this. I’ve never tried any other feed readers. I’ve never had a need to. Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to have to familiarize myself with them, disappointing.
TL:DR:
Not cool Google, not cool.
